


Light a match in the rain.

by DemigodKirin



Category: Guild Wars 2 (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Icebrood Saga, M/M, icebrood saga spoilers, idk how to tag, its just pure angst tbh, mentions of eye gore
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-08
Updated: 2020-11-08
Packaged: 2021-03-08 21:20:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,926
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27453382
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DemigodKirin/pseuds/DemigodKirin
Summary: After gathering word that her brother had been missing since the death of his leader, Commander Luna sends a search party out to find him. What she finds in the end no one could have prepared her for.Shoutout to @commander-luna for being my beta reader, love you!
Relationships: Canach/Player Character (Guild Wars)
Comments: 5
Kudos: 6
Collections: Amanatsu Family





	Light a match in the rain.

_”Turn back.”_

It was the whispers again, plaguing their minds since they first were near Jormag’s champion, clawing at their thoughts and trying to consume them.

“Ignore them.” The Commander, Luna, called back to her group – so far they had only found a handful of Vigil soldiers, ones that had been missing months before and some that had only been gone a week. In reality, Luna was looking for one soldier in particular – her dear brother. He had been tasked with leading a rescue squad to Bjora Marches only to not respond a month later nor return. Maybe it had been an abuse of her title but Luna had sent herself and her guild out there to find him. Or to find his body.

This far into the ice, they could hear Jormag clearly – as if the whispers were people stood right beside them muttering deep into their ear. At first, Jormag had been whispering sweet nothings, broken promises, and things that they had wanted but now they were warnings to turn back or go away. They were getting close.

_”Turn back, Commander, you do not want to see your brother again.”_

Luna glared at the path ahead of her, ignoring the concerned looks from her guild. If Jormag had hurt her brother – she wasn’t going to let it slide.

The snow got worse the closer they got; it was Jormag trying to push them away.

“I warned you!” the voice that had once been whispering in their ears seemed to roar at a volume which made the ground below them shake. Luna refused to give up on her brother nor give up the search for him.

Of all the warnings in the world, nothing could have prepared her to see this. It was as if her entire world had frozen around her even if the ice was there. She had spent weeks trying to find him, trying to find her brother only to find something from her nightmares.

“Hello Luna” his voice was cold, more monotone than she had ever heard him, sure Tomomi wasn’t the best at showing emotions but towards his family? He was gentle, a warm tone that only his family knew, his way of saying ‘I love you.’

“No.” she closed her eyes, ignoring the worried glances of her guild, “No, this can’t be. You’re not him. This is a trick – an illusion!”

But no matter how much she tried to deny it, standing in front of her was an empty shell of her brother. The ice that clung to his arms and the tears frozen over down his cheeks were a sure way of Jormag showing their power, showing that they _knew_ who the Commander was closest to and was going to use it against her. Hit her where it hurts without actually touching her. It was smart – and horrific.

The sickening feeling in her stomach got worse as Tomomi just stood there, hands behind his back – the ice corruption was clear. The frozen, poisonous veins outside seemed to mark his very skin. A flowing proof that he was long gone. One of his eyes – while already had been a pure white colour – now an emotionless void. This was a being of power; this was not a person. This was not her brother.

“Why?” Was all that she could say, Luna felt herself moving closer but was stopped by the barrier of ice that kept the now-champion safe from her. “Why would you do this?”

Silence stretched out, Dragon’s Watch stood beside their Commander, all throwing curious glances at each other – they had only seen the purple and blue sylvari a handful of times. He had been a Sergeant for the Vigil. He turned on his heel, turning his back to Luna, and started to walk away from the barrier before Luna pulled out her pistol and shot against the ice barrier between them to get his attention again.  
“TELL ME WHY!” she demanded, glaring through at him as if the ice would simply melt away.

“Because you left me!” he turned, his eyes alight with the same power she had seen all those years ago before he had learned to control it, the burning sensation of pure raw energy that seemed to erupt from his very body. He growled as he turned back to her, his cold eyes now an angry fire that burned into her soul. “You. Left. Me.”

The words didn’t register at first, she just stared at him as if she had been expecting him to stay silent the entire time.   
“What…?” She hadn’t left him, had she? She had a job to do but… so did he?

“You left me alone! You left me without anyone, you took him from me. You let everyone that I love _die._ You left me. You left me alone. How could you do that?” At his outburst, she stepped back. “You and Ashal.” Upon hearing the mention of her twin's name, the gun she had previously used in anger seemed to slip from her fingers.

“No… I-“

Before she could reply he had turned and walked away from them. Leaving a cold presence in the room and Luna staring ahead as if she had lost everything.

“Commander?” Rytlock’s voice seemed to break her out of her frozen form, she looked back at him as he nodded towards the exit. “We’ll find a way to save him.” it sounded like a promise – a shallow one but one that Luna needed to hear at the time.  
-

The first thing she did was send word to the Vigil and to Canach. If anyone deserved to know what had happened, it would be his squadron and his husband. She hadn’t been expecting to see the other sylvari so soon, yet the look in Canach’s eyes showed her that he had feared the worse and just wanted to get _him_ back. Whatever it took, Luna wasn’t going to let a dragon take her brother. She wouldn’t let them tear her family apart. 

“We need to be careful” Luna looked up as Canach spoke. For once she knew that whatever he was going to say wasn’t going to be some sort of quip or funny comment, he was hurting and while she may not always get along with him she could understand that pain. Losing Tomomi would hurt the Amanatsu family in a way like no other and none of them could afford to lose him. “Tomomi is strong, you need to avoid it when he attunes to lightning. Whether it's only for a brief second or not – Tomomi is strongest when attuned to lightning and will kill you with it.” Having Canach here was more useful than Luna would have liked to admit, he was able to tell them more information on Tomomi and his weaknesses, even if Luna didn’t want to use any of those weaknesses.

Luna looked at him with a concerned look but he didn’t even look at her, he couldn’t. His mind was rushing through the different scenarios of what could happen to his family, to his husband. None of them were pretty.

-

“You’re a fool for letting them leave.” He felt more than heard the scion before he had moved towards him, Reòta’s cold nature left an imprint on the already freezing room, Tomomi stared forward as Reòta circled him like he was prey. “Jormag won’t be pleased, you failed,” he growled, against the weaver’s ear, Tomomi snapped his head towards the icy creature staring him down as if challenging to do better than him. Instead, Reòta reached forward, his cold fingers delicately tracing down the left side of Tomomi’s face. Hovering over his lips, he leaned forward, pulling the other closer to him before pressing his lips against the others. He could feel how Tomomi shook, whether it was fear or disgust Reòta didn’t know.

The same finger that had been caressing him hovered over his eye and right as Tomomi tried to move away, he dug his finger into his eye socket. Reòta didn’t even seem phased when the sylvari screamed out in pain. Falling to his knees in front of the scion. Reòta scoffed, kneeling to where Tomomi was now panting – holding his face as the sap trickled through his fingers. “You are weak. Jormag should’ve never chosen you.”

Knowing that he was more unstable on the prosthetic leg Reòta went for it, pushing Tomomi so his weight mostly relied on the prosthetic leg before kicking it out leaving him to stare up at him from the cold floor.

“You should’ve died.”

Tomomi struggled to look up, moving his hand as the sap trickled onto the floor leaving a puddle, he coughed and spat out the sap that had made its way into his mouth, glaring at Reòta with his undamaged eye.   
“Fuck you, you don’t scare me.”

It had been the wrong thing to say, despite Tomomi’s determined look he even seemed to shrink back in fear when Reòta grabbed his dagger from the side, the blade perfectly crafted for him by his family, the scion turned – a cold dead look in his eyes as he grabbed Tomomi’s chin, dragging him to his knees and glared at him.  
“I should scare you” he spoke coldly, emotionless before taking the dagger and carving out what remained of his eye.  
His screams of pain echoed down the ice fortress’ halls, bouncing off the walls for all to hear the one who disobeyed Jormag’s scion.

-

After the initial meeting had been planned, the guild and the Vigil seemed to disperse, Luna wanted to write a letter to her twin, tell her what had happened - but a selfish part of her wanted to keep Ashal protected, instead distracting herself when she noticed Canach.

He was sat alone twirling his ring in his fingers, she sighed – the two of them had never exactly gotten along when alone together, they put up with each other for the sake of Tomomi but nothing more. But this felt different, she walked over to him slowly – feeling obligated to see if he was okay, of course, she already knew the answer. No. No, he wasn’t okay, his husband may be dead, and they wouldn’t know until they found a body.

“Hi.” She said softly as she sat beside him, he didn’t look up to see who it was, just gave a polite nod. “We will find him Canach, I promise you.”

The other sylvari sighed, shaking his head.   
“I’m not worried about that. Tomomi is strong, brave. If anyone would survive it's him.” Hearing him talk about her brother always amazed her. Despite his jokes and quips – he truly cared for Tomomi and it showed. “I’m worried that he’ll be seen differently, he spent his entire life proving he was good. Zhaitan, Mordremoth, Balthazar. All of that to prove he was a good person; he makes one mistake and it may cost him everything. They are going to be afraid of him, Luna. He’s going to be the traitor and after everything he’s done, I don’t think I’ll be able to stand to see them look at him like he’s a monster.” She knew he was right. This would change everything; he would never be trusted again and there was nothing they could do.

“We will fix this” was all she could say, she would try.  
He was her brother, it was the least she could do. She placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder and after a moment he turned and looked at her – giving her a tired yet hopeful smile.

She patted his shoulder once before hearing ‘Commander!’ called from the other room, Luna frowned before getting up and turning to get up and leave the room, which was when she heard Canach at his weakest, a quiet tone that she had never heard from the secondborn before.

“Comman- Luna. If we can’t save him. Would you let me tell Lethia?”

Lethia. A nightmare courtier. Luna paused, she had never met the nightmare courtier they talked of. She knew they all had a past – Lethia, Canach, Tomomi, there were two others she didn’t remember but she was aware that Lethia had been a part of their lives before herself and Ashal had even been a part of Tomomi’s life.

“Yes, I’ll make sure you can tell her.” was the reply the Commander could give at this time before she was called away again.

-

“Hello, my pretty little thing.” Tomomi froze instantly on the spot hearing the scion’s voice, the sap had stopped leaking from his eye, unable to see from it any longer. Reòta’s hands ran over his shoulders before resting on them, holding him in a firm grip, practically towering above him. “Are you ready? Jormag is relying on you. Do not fail them-“ with his words, the scion trailed his fingers against the untouched eye, Tomomi twitching in fear but refusing to show it, trying to twitch away from his cold touch. It felt like he was being given frostbite just from the touch. “Or I will have your other eye.”

It wasn’t a threat; it was a promise.

-  
Seeing everyone in their armour and with their weapons ready was a horrible feeling as Luna knew who they were going against. They were almost ready – with weapons built to deal with ice and armour built to deal with the cold temperatures. She sighed as she picked up her guns, holstering them, and nodding to the waiting soldiers, they saluted her once before going off to find their respective leaders. They were ready to take on Jormag. To save her brother.

“We’re ready when you are Commander.” one of the Vigil Warmasters stood in place of Almorra while she was busy with other work, she nodded at him.

“Ready the soldiers, we move out.”

With that one command, they were ready to march their way towards the frozen castle. Luna looked up, watching as the claw of Jormag flew menacingly in the distance. Despite this her soldiers and her guild were strong. They had one mission and it was to stop the icebrood corruption from spreading further.

They had made camp not far from the castle. Before they had even left the entrance to the cave – a skyscale Luna recognised all too well landed in front of them, she padded her wide feet over and whimpered quietly. She was looking for her owner – the same person they were trying to save. Without Celionas, Luna would have never known her brother was corrupted. It had been Celionas that had warned Luna of her brother’s corruption. Celionas knew her owner all too well and knew when something was wrong.

The soldiers pointed their weapons at the beast and before Luna could tell them to leave her alone, Canach had stepped forward – offering his hand to her to which she ignored the hand and went straight for barrelling her head into his stomach for comfort.

He nodded back at Luna but kept a gentle smile on the majestic beast. She knew where he was. She was going to lead them straight to her.

“You sent her ahead already.” Luna crossed her arms, a sad smile on her face because of course Canach had gone against her orders and scouted ahead to where Tomomi was.

“Do you expect anything different, Commander?”

Smug bastard.

With Celionas leading them it was easy to find a back entrance. One to avoid all of the icebrood creatures roaming the main halls, enough to get them in safely – sneakily, just like Luna preferred.

“Good job girl.” she heard Canach whisper to the big giant who nuzzled her head against his hand, she stepped back from the weak spot in the wall and waited patiently with the Vigil members that she had grown up with – Tomomi had raised her knowing who her allies were for situations like these.

From the fragile glass, she could see two figures, one who seemed to tower above not only - who she assumed was - Tomomi but also above the mindless icebrood creatures that populated the room.

Taking out one of her daggers Luna carefully tried to locate weak spots in the wall so that she could create an opening for her and her trusted guild – Signalling the vigil men to stay on guard.

Getting in was the easy part, getting out would be the difficult part. She looked towards Canach but his eyes seemed trained on Tomomi, frowning when the taller figure moved closer to his husband.

Once the ice had been breached, Luna took position and trained her rifle on some of the smaller enemies – take them out so she wouldn’t have to deal with them later. She nodded to Canach as he slipped in through the entrance. He wasn’t known for being sneaky however and once the first bomb he threw had gone off – they knew they had been spotted.

Tomomi was one of the first to turn in their direction, his white eyes trained onto Luna the moment she got off from her knee. He didn’t move, he just stared at her. He was still in control and she could see it.

That was quick to change the moment the taller creature loomed over his shoulder.  
“Kill them.” Was all he said before Tomomi unsheathed his sword. Luna wasn’t good at melee combat, pulling out her gun she shot warning shot after warning shot in an attempt to keep him back, not wanting to actually hurt him.

He was moving slowly, slower than she had seen him in a fight – he was resisting but making it look like he was still listening to commands, his eyes while soulless begged for freedom.

“Tomomi!” The creature snapped and Tomomi froze in place. “KILL HER.” The scion screamed, spreading his glass wings as he bared his teeth. “Jormag demands it.”

With that, they knew it was over. Tomomi swore under his breath before charging for Luna, the Commander froze in place. Refusing to fight her brother and accepting her own defeat in that moment.

The raised sword would mean her defeat, her death but she would not harm her elder brother. Raising her arm, she attempted to block the cold metal in a futile attempt at stopping him.

Instead of the sound of the sword against flesh, she heard the clash of another sword.

Opening her eyes slowly she was shocked to see Canach, his sword holding back the one he had made for his husband all those years ago – his eyes were determined but hurt. He knew it was the end and didn’t want it to end like this.

Luna backed up the moment she could, Canach pushing Tomomi back before their swords clashed against each other once more. Using his own weaknesses against him, Canach went for his weaker leg managing to make the other sylvari stumble a bit, using the opportunity to yell at Luna to get out, to find another way round.

Tomomi was up in a second and successfully managed to knock the sword out of his lover’s hand, pointing his own at his throat as he stared down the blade at the secondborn’s face. He panted quietly, he was in pain and it wasn’t from the fight. His hand kept twitching from the overflow of Jormag’s magic.

“End this.” Canach was taken aback by the quiet, broken voice in front of him. He was losing his own mind to Jormag and it was showing.

“Tomomi-“

“Please.” he cried, the last remaining sanity left in the corrupted icebrood monster that was once his husband, his eyes looked at him coldly but begged him to end it, to save him from his fate. Canach’s hand shook as he didn’t know what to do. Tomomi touched his face and it felt like ice. “Please, my love. Please, end me. Save me.” he muttered, a crying plea.

Canach gently took the sword that had pointed at his own neck, the one he had made just for Tomomi – their ring which he kept on a chain on the sword glinted against the ice as he took it from his lover’s hands.  
“I’m so sorry. I should’ve saved you.” he took one of the cold hands in his free hand pressing a gentle kiss to the numb knuckles, he knew he couldn’t feel it and it didn’t feel like his husband’s skin anymore but this was it. He couldn’t save him and it was a horrible feeling.

For once in his life, Canach wanted to cry. He was losing everything as he looked at his lover and knew that the life in him was fading whether he ended it here or if Jormag ended it for him. He breathed in, dropping Tomomi’s hand and raising his sword.

“I…. I’m sorry.” He was about to continue that he was sorry that he couldn’t kill him when an icicle raised from the ground impaling the pale purple sylvari, he choked on his own sap as he looked at Canach with fear in his eyes. Reòta’s cruel face from the shadows showed the power he had over the ice around them. Ending the decision for Canach to end Tomomi’s life.

“He was useless anyway,” Reòta growled before disappearing into the frozen castle more.

“NO!” Canach heard Luna scream as the ice melted back into the ground, Canach instantly moved forward to catch his lover’s body, covering the wound with his hand as he cradled his head.

Luna dropped everything, her knees cracking against the ice beside Canach.  
“Tomomi? TOMOMI!” she cried out as she took his hands in her own, “It’s okay! You’re okay, you’re going to be fine.” she mumbled, panicking to herself as Canach could only stare at the bleeding form of his lover, shocked more than anything that this was happening.

Despite the odds, he smiled up at them, his hand reached to touch Canach’s cheek before weakly falling back. Luna turned to her guild, whether she was yelling or talking Canach couldn’t hear. All he heard was static in his ears as he stared at Tomomi.

He was gone.

-

“Hey.” It was almost sad seeing him looking this tired and defeated, his head turned slowly towards the door before realising who was speaking to him – a gentle tired smile on his lips at seeing Canach in the doorway. “You look like shit,” the words were still laced with a fond tone as the other sylvari walked over to where Tomomi was still resting. Tomomi’s gentle yet pained laugh was enough to prove that this was his Tomomi, not the mindless shell they’d seen before.  
“You ass,” he muttered back, shaking his head and looking at him with a sleepy smile. The scarring down his face looked like it had mostly healed but it had also become clear that he would not be able to see from that eye again ever again.

His prosthetic leg had already been removed so it was easy for Canach to sit on the bed without worrying about crushing a vital part of his husband.  
“Are you okay?” the question was quieter – one not often coming from the secondborn’s mouth but to nearly lose Tomomi had been a shock to their entire family.

As if being able to just sense Canach’s worry, Tomomi gently reached over and touched his arm, his thumb stroking over the other’s skin with a reassuring smile.  
“I’m okay, you worry too much.” his voice was still rough, destroyed even. His touch was still laced with ice that made the secondborn miss the warmth Tomomi used to emit. But he was alive, and that was enough.

Canach leaned over and touched his cheek.   
“You nearly died, I think I’m allowed to worry.” - running his fingers across the leftover ice on his lover’s cheek – seeing Tomomi with those emotionless white eyes, ice over his skin, had been terrifying.

“How am I alive?” he asked quietly, looking confused as he looked around.

“Elowen. Guess he finally repaid you for saving his life” Canach smiled at him. After telling their son about what had happened the boy hadn’t accepted it, going so far as to literally drag him back from the mists like Tomomi had done all those years ago for him.

Having to nearly kill his own husband had been a sinking and horrifying feeling. He pressed his lips against Tomomi’s as if it was their last. The others had left the two of them alone while Tomomi recovered from the dragon, he had been quiet for the few days he had been awake but apparently, this had been his breaking point. Quiet tears trickled down his cheek where Canach’s hand had just been, the hand on Canach’s arm tightening as if afraid that if he let go, he would be alone again.

“’m so sorry,” he mumbled, his throat still suffering from the cold temperatures and misuse. “I tried to kill you.”

It broke Canach’s heart to see the once dignified and proud Vigil sergeant reduced to a babbling crying mess within his eyes just by one dragon but at times, he had to remember that the sergeant in the battlefield was a soldier – not his loving, amusing husband.

“Shh, it wasn’t you.” He gently wiped his husband’s tears away and gave him a secret soft smile between them. “I love you, Tomomi.”

“I love you too.”

-

Since returning home he had been quiet, often jumping at the smallest of sounds and even looking at certain lights with fear – he stumbled occasionally with the loss of his left eye not yet getting his bearings. It was sad seeing him milling around in soft clothing – he was sat in front of the fire he had made, watching it burn. Since Jormag, he seemed determined to warm himself up by sitting by fires, sometimes too close for comfort.

Canach walked over to him, wrapping a gentle blanket around his shoulders – one that Peppiya had made years ago for the secondborn himself. Tomomi jumped a little, spilling the hot tea in his hands on his lap before he looked over to see where Canach was. His eyes relaxing from the sudden fear that had registered before he settled again, the one eye that had been clawed at now had a rather large bandage over it from where he was still healing, there had been no way to save it. The blanket was heavy yet gentle against his sensitive skin.

“Here,” Canach said quietly, taking the mug of tea away from him and placing it beside the fireplace to keep it warm, he very carefully cleaned off the boiling tea from his husband's skin while the purple sylvari watched with one attentive and curious eye, Canach smiled gently at him taking his hands in his own.

It took a small while before Tomomi gently wrapped his own in Canach’s hands. Smiling back at him with a tired yet relaxed smile. He was home and he was safe here.

As if suddenly realising the cold temperate of the room when he was a little away from the fire he seemed to shiver a little. Lowering his head in an attempt to hide himself from the cold – Canach, without hesitation, pulled off the shirt he had been wearing – it had only been an old shirt he had gotten from his time in the human cities but upon pulling it over the other sylvari’s head it seemed to be too big for him, despite this Tomomi relaxed humming gently as he felt engulfed in the familiar warmth of his husband.

Canach pulled him closer, settling his arms around the other’s waist, resting his head against Tomomi’s shoulder. After a small while, Tomomi pressed against his husband, settling his head against the other and closing his eyes, letting himself be embraced in the warmth of his lover.

“You’re safe here with me,” Canach said softly, smiling when Tomomi pressed a kiss to the side of his lips.

“I know. I always have known.”

  
Bonus:

Canach rapped his knuckles against the door frame of their home, Vabbi was quieter at night – colder too, as a desert was expected to be.

Tomomi looked up and smiled at him, at this point his eye had fully healed – he couldn’t see anymore and there was a nasty scar across it but at least it wasn’t infected or worse. Just scarred.

“Ashal and Ever are here,” Canach said softly as he walked over to his husband from where he had been standing on their small balcony, watching the baby griffons and baby skyscales attempt to fly. “She’s waiting for you – you know you don’t have to do this? You have nothing to prove. We can just stay here”

He laughed quietly as he leaned his head against Canach’s shoulder, “Luna said she needed me to lead them, I’m only listening to my commander”

Canach’s arm wrapped around his waist as he sighed, pressing a kiss to his head. “You do look good in a uniform” he teased to which Tomomi laughed, punching him in the side, he wasn’t quick enough to escape from the secondborn’s grasp however and ended with his arms tucked around his lover’s shoulders.

“My future Crystal Bloom Knight” Canach spoke quietly, just quiet enough for only the two of them.

Luna had offered him the job months ago, but he had been hesitant to take up a position of leadership with the Crystal Blooms, however, after some thought. He knew it was the right thing to do.


End file.
